(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dispensing, to receptacles, and to flowable material separation using a supported flexible bag.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The following ten United States patents show prior art related to the present invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,391,409, which issued 9 Jul. 1968 to Gatley, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,613, which issued 13 Oct. 1987 to Donawick et al., show relatively small, suspended, untethered flexible bags with drains centrally of their lower sides for dispensing liquids.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,989 issued 17 Jun. 1997 to Ophardt et al., and discloses a box-like dispenser having a collapsible bag, the bag having a central, downward outlet secured to the dispenser and an upper end tensioned or otherwise supported above the outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,304, which issued 20 Feb. 1990 to Hallen, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,446, which issued 22 Jan. 1991 to Montgomery et al., disclose flexible bladder receptacles, each receptacle being supported by resting on a surface below the receptacle. The bottom of the bladder of U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,304 is flatly disposed on a concrete “anchor ring” and the bladder is secured by “restraining cables” which pass over the top of the bladder to relieve stress in the bladder material. The bladder of U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,446 is, in accordance with its claim 1, in nonattached disposition within an open top containment vessel which is installed in an elevated position.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,288,241 issued 17 Dec. 1918 to Smyth and shows an unsuspended, downwardly tethered, inflatable flexible bag for aeronautics.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,497,156 issued 24 Dec. 2002 to Dageforde and discloses bags for exhaust and dilution gases collected by pumps, no arrangements being disclosed for supporting or otherwise restraining the bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,960 issued 13 Aug. 1991 to Seery and shows a flexible bladder disposed within a storage compartment and provided with a pipe extending into the bladder for conducting flowable material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,844 issued to Kuss et al. on 11 Dec. 1979 and shows a silo breather bag which communicates with the atmosphere through a flexible conduit and which is suspended by a continuous hanger strap engaged by a plurality of hooks.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,251,171 issued 18 Feb. 2003 to Tateishi et al. and discloses cooling exhaust gas before the gas enters a bag filter.